All of a sudden, things are getting weird in
Washington, DC. We've all gotten used to nothing coming out of
government but a whole lot of obstructionism and big talk, because
that's basically all we've gotten for the better part of a year. Health
care reform: fail. Real banking reform: fail. The Democrats' ability to
use their 60-vote majority in the Senate to pass important pieces of
legislation: epic fail.

Nobody was really happy about it, according to every
poll on the planet, but it started to feel like yelling at a rainstorm.
Curse the clouds all you want, but you're getting wet regardless,
right? We have all been steeping like tea bags in frustration and
inaction, and only a few days ago it seemed pretty clear that we were
in for more of the same to come. All that suddenly went sideways this
week, however, when an outburst of forward motion from some very odd
quarters threatens to shake up the ossified processes of this
government.

First came word of an unlikely champion stepping forward
to lead the effort to repeal the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
policy that bars LGBT citizens from serving openly in the military:
Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut. Surprisingly enough, Lieberman
has a fairly good voting record on gay rights, earning an 88 out of 100
rating by the Human Rights Campaign. He has co-sponsored bills like the
Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the Domestic Partners Benefits
and Obligations Act.

However, Joe being Joe means he also voted in favor
of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, and voted in favor of the very
same "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy he now takes issue with, but that's
par for the course with him. If Joe Lieberman called a press conference
to announce that water is wet, millions of Americans would immediately
leap into their showers to make sure he wasn't lying again. Lieberman
has proven himself to be astonishingly less than trustworthy,
especially lately, but if he actually follows through on this and helps
eliminate nearly two decades of discrimination, he will deserve
whatever praise he is given.

At about the same time, another Northeastern senator
was blowing up the status quo from the other side of the aisle. Scott
Brown, the newly minted GOP senator from Massachusetts, who became the
darling of the Right by defeating Attorney General Martha Coakley in
the race to replace the late Ted Kennedy, broke ranks with his party
and sided with the Democrats on President Obama's $15 billion jobs
bill. In doing so, Brown kicked open what passes these days for the
floodgates; after his announcement that he would be voting in favor of
cloture on the bill, four other Republican senators joined him,
ensuring the bill would not be submarined by the inevitable GOP
filibuster. According to a report in Tuesday's Boston Globe:

In one of his first actions in the chamber, the
freshman Bay State Republican joined four of his GOP colleagues in
deciding to end debate on the $15 billion bill, allowing the Senate to
avoid a filibuster and move ahead to a final vote, which requires a
simple majority. The tally was 62 to 30.

The support by Brown and other GOP lawmakers could
represent a critical psychological break for the Senate, which has been
mired in bitter partisan fights over everything from the massive health
care package to uncontroversial presidential nominations.

"I think he and I are going to do a lot of music
together,'' said Sen. George V. Voinovich, a moderate Ohio Republican
who also voted to advance the jobs package.

"I came to Washington to be an independent voice, to
put politics aside, and to do everything in my power to help create
jobs for Massachusetts families,'' Brown said in a statement explaining
his vote. "All of us, Republicans and Democrats, have to work together
to get our economy back on track. I hope my vote today is a strong step
toward restoring bipartisanship in Washington.''

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Brown said the bill, which would give a break on
Social Security taxes to employers who hire the jobless, is "not
perfect.'' But "I voted for it because it contains measures that will
help put people back to work,'' he said.

Brown's dash across the aisle should come as no
surprise, given his political position. He may have won himself the
love and adoration of Tea Partiers - the whole Republican Party, really
- by humiliating the Democrats with his victory earlier this year, but
the fact remains that he is not at all secure in his seat. He has to
run again in 2012, and while Massachusetts voters may have embraced him
in the face of Coakley's pathetic campaign, they are still
Massachusetts voters, and will send him packing if he plays too much
Ken to Palin's Barbie.

For the next two years, anyway, the Democrats may
have themselves a reliable Republican vote on issues that resonate with
those Massachusetts voters, and a jobs bill certainly makes the list.
Odds are good this won't be the last time we see Brown reach out to the
majority. His already-underway re-election effort will depend on it.

And, P.S., boy o boy, are the right-wingers and Tea
Baggers ever mad at him. The "@ScottBrownMA" page on Twitter detonated
with furious comments after the announcement that Brown would vote for
cloture on the jobs bill. "Why in the Name of God did you further
enslave my children & yours yesterday by TRUSTING a Dem Jobs Bill?
What were u thinking?" wrote one woman. "You cannot have
'bipartisanship' with progressives who are destroying our republic,"
wrote another. Still another leveled the strongest online punishment
available by stating, "Just unfollowed and blocked @ScottBrownMA like I
would a common troll."

Hee.

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As this twin-bill feature was unfolding, a voice was
heard from the Land Of The Lost that sounded suspiciously like the
return of Obama's health care reform push. This time, however, the
president and his advisers appeared to be coming with a baseball bat
instead of the oft-proffered, never-accepted hand of bipartisanship. According to the Globe:

President Obama launched a final drive for a
sweeping health care overhaul yesterday, offering a proposal that the
White House hopes will help unite squabbling Democrats and, if
necessary, could be used to bypass Republicans altogether.

Representing the first full-fledged health care plan
offered by the president, the proposal was part of a two-track White
House strategy: demonstrate a willingness to compromise across the
aisle at a health care summit set for Thursday, but, at the same time,
have a plan ready that might pass the Senate over GOP objections.